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stuart
Rank; Hector Tax Inspector
United Kingdom
2 Posts |
 Posted - 18/03/2009 : 15:52:35
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It would appear that whilst I spent long periods of time out of work that once I regained employment that tax credits now wish to gain a refund of any assistance that you gave me whilst unemployed. I was never notified that any assistance given by tax credits whilst I was out of work would have to be fully refunded at the time or I would not have accepted the tax credits I thought I was due.
It was also agreed that via tax credits records that I had done all in my power to keep the Tax Credits office informed in a timely manner about any changes in my circumstances and incomes during all the periods in question. I had telephoned the tax credits office every time I had lost or regained employment giving them all required details.
The 03 – 04 initial £732.42 claimed overpayment is apparently due to wrong job seeker allowance, however I contacted the tax credits when I lost employment and when I regained employment. I would not have known what job seekers allowances I was likly to get at this time and the initial type of job seekers allowance was changed during this period of unemployment. This is a matter between government departments and cannot be offloaded onto me who was out of work. I would not know what I was entitled to and would expect the experts to look after my interests.
During the period 04 – 05 I returned to work and accordingly advised the tax credits of this along with my new salary, yet it would appear that the alleged overpayment of £4899.19 was because I earned too much. How can I be liable to pay back money that tax credits gave me when I had no earnings? If I then find a job (that I tell tax credits about including salary) that pays a wage. At no time when I was given the tax credits was I informed that if I get a job I would have to repay the money given to me when I had none. During the periods of unemployment I ran up significant debt just for my family to survive.
The situation above happened again in 05 – 06 with £204.66 and 06 – 07 with £713.68 each time with a period of unemployment and each time as 04 – 05 I had kept tax credits completely informed.
We have been trying to bring this issue to conclusion however it took tax credits from July 2008 until Feb 2009 to reply to us and when we received a reply our original comments were not answered
can anyone help?
what should i do?
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Edited by - stuart on 18/03/2009 16:15:45 |
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PJD
Da Purple one
United Kingdom
269 Posts |
Posted - 20/03/2009 : 02:31:21
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hiya Stuart
sorry for the delayed reply.
sorry to hear about your case. ridiculous isn't it. as your case evidences large and repeated changes in finance mean that there is no way to avoid an overpayment, and then when you factor in official errors, these bills can be huge.
the problems occur because if you gain employment (and therefore get a large increase in your income) later on in the tax year, HMRC have already paid you more than you are now entitled too. but as you say, especially early on in the system, we were never warned this would be a temporary loan. no other benefit in the country operates like this. i always use JSA as an example; you don't suddenly owe back all the JSA you were paid when you do find work.
so these debts occur when the system works how it was supposed too! not that that is reasonable (and something we still suggest people dispute) but with your case having official errors on as well, you should definitely continue to dispute.
from the details you have given, i am a little suspicious that the bill might not even be right. yes your income does matter to TC, but TC is supposed to 'reward work', so you still have been eligible for some Tax Credit.
i see you have been trying to dispute, but have not got full answers yet (we usually expect the brush off at these stages, but we do insist on getting useful answers to use in the next stages of dispute) and i know you have to respond soon, so....
have you used the TC846 form yet? its the one linked at step 1 here http://www.taxcc.org/Dispute_1st_things_1st.html
if not, that will be the easiest and quickest way (for you, sod them) for you to respond. i would fill that in and
* tick the last 2 for question 10
* and for question 11; ignore the Date column and just write in the Details column something like...
"I dispute responsibility for the alleged overpayment's as it was official error and the flawed design of the system that caused the overpayment's. I was not to know the payments were wrong.
HMRC have failed to answer issues i have raised already on the events of this case. I demand a full breakdown of the events and changes to my awards including the new calculations at each stage. as you have so far failed to respond adequately i insist that my case is still in dispute and therefore all recovery action should be suspended"
and get that form sent in recorded delivery.
if you have already used the TC846 form, go on to step 3 of our dispute guide for a walk-through of a more detailed 2nd round response.and email me if you need any help with it.
if you haven't claimed your data yet, use the template SARN at step 2 to get this under way.
you are correct; this isn't right! how is landing you in debt "rewarding work", let alone the injustice of making us foot the bill for their errors.
hope the above helps, keep in touch and let us know how it goes.
cheers
PJ |
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new member Help this cannot be right
